On the Road and in Place: A Material History of the New Buffalo Commune, New Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Northern Rio Grande History: Routes and Roots" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The New Buffalo Commune of northern New Mexico was a countercultural mecca during the late 1960s and 1970s, drawing in young folks from around the country who sought escape from the industrialism, capitalism, and militarism of mid-twentieth-century American society. It was a community of those who were looking to return to lost relationships with the environment through active agricultural and spiritual work. Despite the commune’s ideological focus on renewed relationships with the land, its occupants were highly nomadic, most passing through New Buffalo and other communal living arrangements on Kerouac-inspired expeditions. In this paper, I explore the material culture of these restless American nomads and the cultural ramifications of fluid community-building through the objects they left behind, asking: what did it mean for the Hippies of the 1960s New Mexico to occupy, have influence on, and be of a place?

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Northern Rio Grande History: Routes and Roots

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32887